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\ No 188 



TRAINING FOR CITIZENSHIP 



AN ARTICLE 

ON THE WINSTON-SALEM PLAN OF 
TRAINING FOR CITIZENSHIP 



By 

LEROY HODGES 

PETERSBURG, VA. 






PRESENTED BY MR. SWANSON 
September 18, 1&13.— Ordered to be printed 



WASHINGTON 
1913 




D. OF C, 
«GT 4 1313 



V 






^" 



THE WINSTON-SALEM PLAN OF TRAINING FOR 

CITIZENSHIP. 



Training boys for the obligations and responsibilities of citizenship 
has been undertaken in Winston-Saleni, N. C., along rather broad and 
unique lines. After nearly a year's successful operation the Wmston- 
Salem plan is worthy of careful consideration, and possibly of imita- 
tion. The prmcipal characteristics of this plan are, first, cooperation 
between the public schools and the local board of trade; second, the 
establishment of a department of government and economics in the 
city high school; and third, the formation of a boys department, or a 
"Juvenile Club," as it is called, of the board of trade. 

WORK IN THE HIGH SCHOOL. 

At the beginnmg of the 1912-13 school year, Supt. R. H. Latham, 
of the city schools, provided, as a part of the high-school curriculum, 
a course in government and economics open to the senior students, 
and placed the new department under the direction of the secretary 
of the board of trade, ^ who, with the approval of the board, had volun- 
teered his services. Under this department, the students are taught 
the elements of government, special attention being given to analysis 
and comparison of the city, county. State, and Federal Governments. 
During the term ending with the Christmas holidays, mock elections 
were held, and the class was organized as city council. State general 
assembly, and as the Congress of the United States. 

Immediately after Christmas a series of lectures treating of the 
fundamental prmciples of economics were arranged, and the attention 
of the students directed to the important industrial, commercial, and 
agricultural problems of this country, particularly the problems of 
the Southern States. 

As a result of this work the boys developed a very active interest 
in public affairs, and to hold this interest and at the same time make 
the work of lasting value it was recognized that their historic and 
theoretical study of political and economic problems must in some 
way be connected with the practical, everyday experiences in the 
industrial centers. Winston-Salem being essentially a manufac- 
turing community, the means of studying actual conditions was 
immediately available. As a feasible method of undertaking this 
it was suggested that there be organized a juvenile club of the board 
of trade and the establishment of a closer cooperation between the 
work of the high school and that of the board. 

1 Mr. LeRoy Hodges, an economist and statistician of Petersburg, Va., was acting as secretary of the 
Winston-Salem Board of Trade at this time. 



TEAINING FOE CITIZENSHIP. 



THE JUVENILE CLUB. 



Having declared that "No commercial organization performs its 
legitimate functions unless it makes ay effort to inculcate the prin- 
ciples of true citizenship in the minds of its members, and to advance 
the social conditions of the people always ahead of the march of 
industrial and commercial progress," the board of trade readil}- 
indorsed this plan to form a boys' division of the board, and authority 
was given the secretary to undertake its formation. The result is 
the Juvenile Club of the Winston-Salem Board of Trade. 

Membership in the Juvenile Club is not hmited to high-school 
boys, for it was thought best to open to all interested boys of the 
city a way to become identified with constructive and active civic 
work. To become a member of the club, however, the boy must 
be at least 14 years of age and under 21 years old. Another condi- 
tion of membership is that the boy must subscribe to and recite 
from memory before the secretary of the board of trade the ancient 
Athenian oath, pledging himself to perform faithfully his civic obli- 
gations. This pledge is as follows: 

We will never bring disgrace to this our city by any act of dishonesty or cowardice, 
nor ever desert our suffering comrades in the ranks. We will fight for the ideals and 
sacred things of the city, both alone o.nd with many. We will revere and obey the 
city's laws and do our best to incite a like respect and reverence in those above us 
who are prone to annul or to set them at naught . We will strive unceasingly to quicken 
the public sense of civic duty. Thus, in all these ways, we will transmit this city 
not less, but greater, better, and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us. 

A membership register is kept in which the boys sign their names 
after subscribing to and reciting this oath. 

The boys have the privilege of attending all regular meetings of the 
board of trade, with the right to take part in debates, but without 
any voting power. They are assigned committee work, and special 
meetings are held for them twice a month or more frequent if the 
work demands it. Members of the Juvenile Club pay no fees. 

The club has a membership of about 50 boys, the first member 
being enrolled October 14, 1912. 

Every effort is made to properly train these boys for the duties of 
citizenship, to create in them respect for honest and efficient public 
service, and to actively interest them in the work of making Winston- 
Salem a better, greater, and more beautiful city in which to live. 

COOPERATION JUVENILE CLUB WITH HIGH SCHOOL. 

The first employment of the members of the Juvenile Club has been 
in the recent industrial survey of Winston Salem conducted by the 
board of trade. All of the boys selected to assist in this work were 
students in the department of government and economics of the high 
school. In this way the boys in the graduating class of the high school 
this year have been able to take part in an organized industrial in- 
vestigation under proper authority. 

In this work the boys visited the local manufacturing establish- 
ments and filled out a detailed industrial schedule, in the same manner 
as do special agents of the statistical bureaus of the Federal Govern- 
ment. They were held strictly responsible for the accuracy of their 
reports, and the statistical tables which have been prepared are com- 
piled directly from their reports. 



TEAINING FOE CITIZENSHIP. 



STATISTICAL WORK. 



The general suniniary of the investigations made by the boys shows 
that for the calendar year 1912 there were 86 manufacturing estab- 
lishments in operation in Winston-Salem turning out an annual 
product valued at $37,000,000 from raw materials costing about 
fifteen and a half millions of dollars. All establishments not strictly 
classified as manufacturing establishments by the Federal Bureau of 
the Census are omitted in this computation. 

With a population estimated at only 35,000, this means that for 
every man, woman, and child in Winston-Salem more than $1,000 of 
•wealth is annually manufactured. 

According to the report of the boys, more than 12,000 persons are 
■ employed in the manufacturing industries of Winston-Salem, receiving 
for their labor nearly four and a half millions of dollars a year. The 
capital reported for these establishments is placed at $16,000,000. 

To more clearly understand the scope of the work performed by the 
boys of the Juvenile Club in the industrial survey of the city, the 
following condensed table will be of assistance : 

Statistical revieio of the manufacturing industries of Winston-Salem, N. C, calendar 

year 1912. - 

Number of establishments ^86 

Capital invested Dec. 31 $16, 000, 000 

Number of salaried employees 700 

Number of traveling salesmen employed 400 

Number of wage earners - 11, 000 

Total persons employed 12, 100 

Amount of salaries paid , $750, 000 

Salaries and fees paid traveling salesmen $630, 000 

Amount of wages paid $3, 000, 000 

Total pay roll $4, 380, 000 

Cost of raw materials used during year $15, 500, 000 

Value of finisbed product $37. 000, 000 

Cost of new buildings erected $300, 000 

Cost of improvements and repairs $125, 000 

Cost of power, heat, and light $300, 000 

Number of tons of coal consumed 50, 000 

TRAINING FOR CITIZENSHIP. 

This, the "Winston-Salem plan," as it may be termed, trains the 
boys of the city for citizenship; first, in the high school, where they 
are taught the principles of civil government and instructed in the 
theories and basic problems governing our economic order; second, in 
the Juvenile Club where they have the means of being identified with 
real work of municipal development, and to take part in actual social 
and industrial investigations. Under this plan, an opportunity is 
provided for the boys to study at close range the varied mdustries of 
the city under competent direction and in an official capacity. 

In brief, the plan essays to teach the boys how to live and to equip 
them with an education by which they can make a living, which, in the 
end, is the real secret of practical training for intelligent citizenship. 

1 Only establishments considered as manufacturing establishments according to the established classi- 
fications of the United States Bureau of the Census are included in this table, 

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